Literally, it is hard as teak. Different from all-carbon fiber, the yacht Mark Twain, which is a multimillion-dollar super maxi and skippered by legend Michael Spies participating in Sydney to Hobart yacht race have been built of wood along with a hull of fiberglass.

The yacht was built in the year 1971 and in Sydney itself. It was the first boat to take part in 25 Sydney to Hobart. There was an achievement that she performed in the year 2002. Bryan Northcote, its navigator said, “It was the Ichi Ban of 1971,” After that, this yacht did not take part in any race. Spies is the one who has finished 41 Sydney to Hobart and this is one who has claimed an overall win as well as the line honors, bought Mark Twain in Victoria last year and from that time busy in restoring this venerable racer. He said “It takes longer than ever for everything. Obviously, everything is not like the job of five minutes. You keep on searching the ongoing legacies. Anyone who claims their boat is 100 percent prepared ahead of the race is bullshitting”,(more…)

Summer is a good time for kids to pick up sailing skills. However, many sailing clubs promote more than sailing and have unique summer programs designed for beginners. Sailing is a sport that some kids take to readily while others are more hesitant. There is a mix of science, fun, skills and safety requirements that can help in developing children’s different abilities and have fun in the outdoors.

Mystic Seaport in CT is a club that has several summer camp activities lined up. These offer unique opportunities to learn which include a Float Box Derby, a weeklong affair where kids of 8 to 14 will participate, creating their own boats and testing them out at the Fool’s Regatta. The main aim of this activity is to get kids involved in problem solving. As per the supervisor of the sailing programs, every day there is a different obstacle that the kids need to work around which includes building activities, teamwork as well as structure. By getting involved in these activities kids will know about sailing, boating as well as kayaking and also on how boats work.(more…)

Ian Walker had been the reigning champion in the previous version of Volvo Ocean Race as well as skippered the winning boat in 2014-15 Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing.

He has analyzed the form of the participating teams to provide opinions on how the teams will perform in the 2017-18 race that is coming up on October 20th. Among the fleet there are three major divisions. For potential winners, one would be looking at MAPFRE or Dongfeng. These two teams are well trained and bring their best experience from the last prologue race. Among these, two teams MAPFRE have a stronger crew in place as per Ian Walker.

Brunel is also a team that has good people as well as lots of experience such as Capey and Bouwe Bekking. However, this team probably has to train a lot harder. AkzoNobel on the other hand might have some chance, but Ian feels that the team needs to get more organized. The Vestas on the other hand, have some good sailors such as Simon Fisher, who wins races like Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing. (more…)

The legendary Brazilian Olympic sailor, Robert Scheidt, is heading into the Kiel Week where he will be taking part in the 49er skiff class.

The 44-year-old Scheidt has won the Olympic medal five times. It is a great honor for the organizers of the KielerWoche sailing regatta event to have him competing in the 49er skiff class. He will be seen racing with his team mate Gabriel Borges.

The five-time Olympic medalist will not have an easy way into the regatta event. He will be facing a tough challenge from Germans Thomas Ploessel and Erik Heil. They have won the 49er Olympic bronze medal at the Rio Olympics last year. Scheidt will not be deterred by the presence of the Germans as he has the experience and the skills to topple any team on his day. He has had an extraordinary sailing career so far and will be looking to make it big at the Kiel Week. (more…)

The 54th Halberg Awards were given away and Blair Tuke and Pete Burling were the proud recipients of the Team of the Year Award. This is one of the most popular sporting accolades of New Zealand. This prestigious black-tie event was hosted by the Halberg Disability Sport Foundation.

Tuke and Burling were pitted against fellow members of the sailing team of New Zealand Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie, the Team Sprint combination of Eddie Dawkins, Ethan Mitchell, and Sam Webster and against the rowing pair of Eric Murray and Hamish Bond. This is the fifth time that Burling and Tuke were nominated for the Halberg Awards and this happens to be the first time that the two have won the team award. (more…)

This is one of the oldest trophies that is revered the world over; it has had a framework that was crafted in 1848. Hence, it was high time that the framework was revisited and changes made as per modern sailing conditions and requirements. The skippers of the present teams were asked to rework on the framework, an involvement that helped them see beyond their mere participation in the racing events.

The new framework has been created which was announced to the press in the House of Garrard in London. Here the four skippers of different teams were present to make the announcements. In general the changes will define the format that would be followed by the next two subsequent cycles of America’s Cup, in 2019 and 2021 respectively. The class rules and protocols have been looking into and changes proposed where necessary. (more…)

Kim Andersen the vice president of engineering and Construction Company said World Sailing is going through a lot of changes and people want that there should be more transparency in eh system.

Andersen wants to improve availability of sailing sport worldwide and said that transparency in the system will bring exposure in the sailing sport event.

Andersen addressing a press conference said “World Sailing is a responsible body and thus it is important for it to function in a smooth and streamlined way. Of course the financial issues too need to be addressed with open and clear manner.” Talking about the issue of Gazprom deal, he further said that everybody in sailing world is confused over what happen with Gazprom deal. We know there is nothing wrong, but if there would be transparency in the system, and then we would have not asked this question. The committee working is presently being unable to manage things they have to answer to the world of sailing. (more…)

The Act 5 was indeed a spectacle to see as it as a close competition between Alinghi and the leader of the Extreme Sailing Series Oman Air. As the final race was in sight the crew f Morgan Larson were also on equal points with Alinghi. This meant that the Act 5 was one of the most thrilling acts of this series. (more…)

Today, UNICEF is the all new race leader having confronted some tough conditions in the evening following a brand new small low pressure system shaped further south than forecast and left the squads with winds as well as a diabolical sea state. The unpredictable, unforecast conditions experienced the wind increased rapidly to forty knots, and alter direction, making a north south divide in the pack.

Plainsailing.com that it was the toughest evening of the whole circumnavigation till now, as his squad was forced to head in the other direction to Seattle so that they could find favorable westerlies in the system’s southern sector. (more…)

All weather lifeboat Mumbles was joined by Horton and Port Eynon lifeboat last evening after a yacht got struck a submerged object in the Oxwich Bay and it started to sink. This smitten vessel was stranded in the bay, said the HM Coastguard.

A spokesperson told that the one person on board handled to get ashore safely. The lifeboats, along a rescue helicopter as well as an Oxwich coastguard rescue squad, were tasked at around 10.40 pm as Storm Katie assembled strength in English Channel.

The boat was blustered onto the beach at Oxwich by winds of up to forty mile per hour. Roy Barker IV, the Mumbles lifeboat, escorted Horton and Port Eynon inshore lifeboat to their boathouse before coming back to Mumbles.

James Bolter, the Deputy second coxswain told that this was one of the worst night’s weather of the year till now. They are really very happy the crew of the yacht is all safe. Thankfully they called for help immediately, if the yacht had grounded anywhere other than the beach there could have been tragic consequences.

Meanwhile, Springline Yacht Sales, based in Connecticut, is spreading out to Lake Champlain as well as Quebec with the addition of yacht broker Julie Garneau. She and others at the sailboat dealership would bring Island Packet, Blue Jacket and Elan yachts to the region.

In a statement, Springline Yacht Sales owner and president Rick Dieterich told that they are thrilled to be expanding and bringing their brands and Julie’s expertise to our Canadian clients. They look forward to seeing Julie out on Lake Champlain with happy clients at the helm of an Elan, Blue Jacket or Island Packet.